13:58:891S 145:22:342E
Shaya Moya
Don & Susan Smyth
Sun 10 Aug 2014 05:29
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Well we are really now getting a move on towards
Darwin. These next passages are overnight ones, together with a 5-6 day one from
Thursday Island to Darwin, where we pick Ted up. We need to get to Darwin by the
21/22 August to get fresh veg and salad, refuel and prepare to clear
customs.
Since Roger got on board we have come a long way,
having done 730nm(1350km) from Mackay to Lizard island in two weeks. We are now
making our way to a place called Raines island, sailing outside the reef as
there are no ships or reefs to worry about. At Raines island we cross back
through the reef in order to get to Thursday island. This passage is 200nm and
will take us all night to do. Rog is standing night watches quite comfortably
alternating partnering Tom and myself.
 
Mackay to Lizard island
Lizard Island to Raines Island
On the colour photo you can see the speed we are
making top left box, awesome. Top right gives hours to go and bottom right
indicates our expected time of arrival.
The weather has been a mixed bag, consisting ouf
bright sunny days, wet and windy days and some really rough sea days. Rog taking
it all in his stride.
  
Sheltering from the rain
Cooking up a storm
Fixing things
with this weather and the strong winds Tom has not
been able to fish as often as before. He did however put the rods out on one
occasion and caught a 25kg Yellow fin Tuna, that took him45 minutes to land. It
was so big and heavy he had to pull it onboard from the transom(swimming
platform at the back of the boat) with a rope around its tail. There was just
too much fish to keep it as most would have gone to waste due to lack of freezer
space, so back it went.
   From Magnetic Island we decided to take the inside
passage through the Hinchenbrook channel. This channel seperates Hinchenbrook
island from the mainland. It is a scenic 25nm journey between the mountains
of the Caldwell range on the mainland and the mountains on Hinchenbrook through
the mangroves. We anchored overnight in the channel in misty conditiond which
made the scene quite surreal. There are crocodiles in the area so no
swimming.
 
Hinchenbrook
channel
Mangroves
From here it was off to Cairns to refuel and stock
up with fresh veg and salad. We arrived outside Cairns at 3am in the morning
with the wind howling and a very lumpy sea. We decided to anchor in Mission bay
until daylight as the channl into the harbour is narrow and there are shallows
either side. This was a very uncomfortable night and we were glad to get out of
there into the harbour as soon as it was light. We had to tog Rog up in his wet
weather gear and I must say he looks the part.
  Cairns is a major city with a good marina and shops
etc. It was here we were able to get a replacement ball valve handle for
the deck washer which had coroded. The Woolworths supermarket here was strangely
smaller and not as good as the one in Mackay! Cairns has more restuarants than
any where else we have been, both on the waterfront and in the city. There is an
Asian food night market which looked interesting but I couldnt get any
takers. On our pier there was a trawler selling fresh prawns, mussels
and fish, quite enterprising and busy.
   Rainbow after
the storm
Marlin marina Cairns
Enterprising
fisherman
After an early 7am refueling we were off to Lizard
island. We decided to avoid the narrow channel inside the reef with its reefs
and cargo ships, opting to go outside the reef instead. This was a good idea as
we were able to sail almost right on course with a following sea and wind,
giving us speeds in excess of 10kts. Rog and Tom took the 9pm-12pm watch and
played scrabble most of the way. Tom took line honours by beating Rog after a
late run. Better luck next time Rog. At 12pm I came on watch and Rog went
forward to his cabin to sleep. Big mistake. If he thought it was going to be
bumpy he was mistaken, it was much worse.
Tom stayed with me as we needed to gybe onto a
course that would allow us to motor through the narrow Cooks passage in the
reef. This is the same passage that Captain Cook discovered with Mr Banks when
he climbed Cooks lookout on Lizard island all those years ago. Historic
stuff.Needless to say, once we had gybed we were
heading directly into the waves. Poor Rog was now trapped in his cabin being
tumbled around like the inside of a washing machine.
Once through we headed for Mrs Watsons bay which
gave us shelter from the waves and most of the wind.A super yacht crewman radiod
us as we passed in the dead of night to help us avoid a reef where we had
to anchor. This was Plan B a large motoryacht with helicopter and all the toys,
which had been in Cairns marina at the same time as us. Glad he called as we
saw when daylight arrived. Rog surfaced wide eyed bemoaning the fact
that he hadnt been able to get any sleep. We all turned in about 4am for some
much deserved sleep. We spent the next night here as we thought that if the
weather calmed down we could go snorkelling.
Lizard island is renowned for its diving and
snorkelling, and we thought we would be able to enjoy this as we had at Hook
reef. Not to be, the wind continued to howl into the bay over the island.
Although we were quite comfortable sheltered form the seas, it was not very
pleasant. Even Tom, who cannot wait to get in the water kept vacillating and
eventually didnt even go ashore to try to look up a friend who is on the island
doing marine research, pity. Maybe better luck at Topaz reef tomorrow. We headed
back out of the inner reef through Cooks passage this morning to sail as far up
the outside of the reef as we can before we have to go back inside in order to
make best way to Thursday island. Going well again, doing 9-10kts with a not too
bad a following sea. Rog has started to acquire the scars of a seasoned
yachty, though looks worn out to me!
Taking a nap, yes he
does snore
Various wonderful sunsets.
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